Damian
initially completed 2 years of a Bachelor of Applied Science (Chemistry) at the University of South Australia before transferring to a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Oenology) at the Adelaide University and then continuing with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Wine Science) at Charles Sturt University in 2004.

During his studies he worked for Koppamurra,
assisting with all winemaking processes, from vintages 2000-2008, he also sought to gain further winemaking experience at Step Rd, Hardy’s Tintara, Scarpantoni Wines and Haselgrove Wines. He then led to gain further experience by completing a vintage at La Crema Winery in California, where he was on the international winemaking team for a 5,500 tonne crush in 2008.

Following partnership changes at Koppamurra, Damian was named winemaker in 2008. With a significant contribution to both the direction and quality of our wines, he hand selects grapes from premium vineyards in SA and handles the full winemaking process through to bottling.

Utilising the wide range of skills and techniques
acquired over the past 10+ years, we have now begun to see much award and acclaim from our wines, with a recent Gold Medal at the Royal Adelaide Show, for our 2012 Clare Riesling, and certainly many more to come.

Damian is also a Director and Board Member at Torresan Estate Contract Bottling & Warehousing, who have been responsible for bottling and packaging our wines for nearly 20 years, where his role is Manager of Oenological and Technical Services.

Koppamurra currently consists of a tightly held two person partnership, Hamish Ramsay and Dean Christie assisted by a small, highly skilled and motivated team.
Working from a well designed gallery-tasting room, office and warehouse complex just south of the Adelaide CBD. As our history shows, we no longer own vineyards - this gives us the opportunity to choose from a wide range of regions and select the very best grapes for our winemaking team to perform their magic!

They stared when we came out to plant the vines…
'Grazing country', said the locals, 'only some loony from the city would plant vines there.' In 1975, Coonawarra had grown grapes for a century, but Koppamurra’s was only the second vineyard to establish just to the north of Coonawarra, at a little place called Joanna in the region now known as Wrattonbully. More than thirty years later, Wrattonbully is recognised as a premier wine-growing area, with almost as many vines as its better known neighbour – certainly an accolade to John Greenshields, who planted Koppamurra’s vineyard there.

IN 1991, new partners came into the business and a new focus on marketing direct to the customers – not so unusual now, but fairly new at the time. The direct marketing concept has served Koppamurra well ever since.

Koppamurra bought a very pretty property at Norton Summit in the Adelaide Hills – where it had some very successful years.
However, wine partnerships, like other human relationships, move on. In 2006 the partners decided that their various interests would be best served by splitting the partnership.Two partners took the Norton Summit property and the winemaking facility, two partners took the Koppamurra name, business and stock.

Koppamurra
has now moved to a different winemaking model. We now purchase grapes from
premium vineyards from
several SA regions. Shiraz and Cabernet still come from Wrattonbully,
Riesling from Watervale, Clare, SauvignonBlanc
from Adelaide Hills, Shiraz, Grenache, Rose, GSM, Roussanne and Viognier
from McLaren Vale and Shiraz from Padthaway.

In 2006, we wrote ‘the times are not easy for small winemakers,
but... we are still in business’– in 2017, the times are still uneasy and... we are still in business.Koppamurra will keep on making affordable wine of quality and interest and with a degree of difference as it has done for more than thirty years.

Koppamurra will keep on providing wine from ‘the grape to your doorstep’
with old fashioned personal service.